Renault chief race engineer Alan Permane said the team were “disappointed” not to have beaten Mercedes in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Permane said:

Robert drove another great race and it?óÔé¼Ôäós good to pick up some more points, but we were a little disappointed not to get ahead of Mercedes because we seemed to be quicker. As we?óÔé¼Ôäóve seen in most of the races so far this year, the first stint leading up to the pit stops plays a pivotal role in determining the outcome of the race, so we were hoping Robert would jump ahead of Rosberg in the pits. We had a good pit stop, but unfortunately Mercedes were slightly quicker, and so we remained stuck behind Rosberg in the train of cars for the rest of the afternoon.Alan Permane

Rosberg made the quickest pit stop of the weekend to keep track position over Kubica.

However Kubica is still ahead of both Mercedes drivers in the championship and is level with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on 67 points.

Permane believes the team are now quicker than Mercedes in the races but need to improve their qualifying performance:

Our performance in Turkey suggests that our race pace is better than Mercedes, but they are just ahead of us on qualifying pace, and the same was true in Barcelona. When I spoke to Robert after the race he felt that Rosberg was holding him up and that he could have gone quite a bit quicker. So it?óÔé¼Ôäós down to us to make sure we do a better job in qualifying so that we can get ahead of them and exploit the full potential of our car.Alan Permane

He backed Vitaly Petrov despite the Russian driver dropping our of the points late in the race following a collision with Fernando Alonso:

He did an excellent job and it was a real shame to see him pick up a puncture during his fight with Alonso because he really deserved points after such a strong drive. It?óÔé¼Ôäós fair to say that the last few races have been tough for him with a couple of accidents that have put him on the back foot, so to have a weekend where everything came together will have done him the world of good.

Seeing him fighting with the Ferraris and holding Fernando at bay for most of the race was great and should give him another confidence boost. It was by far his best race weekend this season and hopefully he can continue where he left off in Canada.Alan Permane

The team have made rapid progress since the start of the season and brought another new front wing to Turkey. They have more upgrades planned for the coming races:

The biggest update was new front wing which certainly brought the benefits we were expecting and the feedback from the drivers was positive. We managed to do a proper back-to-back assessment compared with the older version of the wing on Friday and the numbers we measured at the track confirmed our findings in the wind tunnel. Our strategy of bringing updates to every race so far this season has been one of our strengths and is a testament to all the effort that is going on back at the factory. In fact we already have another version of the front wing in the pipeline, which will be available in a few races time and should give us another step forward on downforce.

I think we do have a car that is adaptable and easy to drive. Obviously Monaco was a high point for us and it?óÔé¼Ôäós clear that the R30 is very well suited to those lower-speed circuits, but we?óÔé¼Ôäóre working hard to ensure we are just as competitive on all types of circuit. We expect to continue our current level of competitiveness in Canada where we will have further upgrades to the car. We also have good upgrade packages planned for Valencia and Silverstone, which will hopefully allow us to move ahead of Mercedes.Alan Permane

To be honnest I think Petrov has been driving by far the best rookies car of the season. It’s fast and highly driveable. Bet both Renault and Glock wish they’d paired up they could have two drivers with decent points.

I think Petrov has been doing a good job but I agree with you Scribe. The car is a tidy package with good balance so it;s probably the best car in the field to start out with while the new cars have their issues, the Williams looks understeery and the Sauber usually isn’t running long enough to judge.

If Petrov finds better qualifying pace son I think it will be a close battle between Mercedes and Renault. Kubica is clearly a more superior driver then both Schumi and Rosberg, and If Petrov can be battling with the Mercedes drovers for position, I think Renault can finish the year in front of them.

Kubica is a more superior driver than Schumacher??? Where have you been hiding for the last 10 years????
.The car Schumacher is driving is the problem not himself.Once the car is up to the standard of say Mclaren ,Michael will show you a bit of superiority driving.I cannot believe anyone would be so stupid as to write what you have.

He has had enough years with Michael off the circuit to prove this point.Kubica made his formula one test debut in 2006 so he has been racing in formula 1 for 4 years.It is not about living in the past it is about you learning the past,especially the 4 yrs Kubica has had in the MS interim period.

And in how many of those races has Kubica had a race winning car to show what he has?

2000-04 Schumi always had a race winning car, and a teammate that was ordered not to challenge him. If Schumi is as great as you make him out to be, he should be winning races with Mercedes right now, or at the least in front of Kubica, who has a car that is slower than the Mercedes.

Actually Tod, Schumacher is merely blowing away the dust after 4 years out of the sport, and is beginning to establish himself. He certainly won’t get to the heights of greatness he reached before in his career, but he’ll be able to keep up with the current breed, and will not be looking like a “clown”, as you put it.

It’s a bit of both to be honest, Schumacher is starting to prove that he can keep up with the younger generation, but he simply won’t be as good as he was in the “noughties”. And just because people disagree with you doesn’t mean their comments are stupid.

wake up tod, please are you trying to compare schumi to kubica???
just give shumi a good car in the same level of the red bull and the mclaren and you will see what can he do. i am sure he will kick a lot of asses in the circuit.
And yes i am a hardcore fan of the “Baron”

Just give Kubica a good car in the same level of the Red Bull and the McLaren and you will see what can he do. I’am sure he will kick a lot of asses in the circuit – And I can say this about half of the grid.

It looks like Mercedes concentrated solely on improving their qualiying pace. They seem to do pretty well in qualifying, but during the race their pace is abysmal. Schumacher was a second a lap slower than the 4 top drivers (at least until the Red Bulls dropped off and the McLarens could start cruising).

Renault is for sure the biggest surprise of the season.
Before its start, everybody was thinking that they will be fighting with Sauber, Williams and Force India in the middle of the pack and now they are a real threat for “big 4″. I’m very pleased for them.
And they have most beautiful car on the whole grid.
GO RENAULT!

I think that Mercedes won’t challenge for the championship this season, so they will fight with Renault & Force India if they improve, with 4th place in the championship.Renault have two very good drivers & I won’t be surprise if they beat Mercedes come the end of the year.

BliNnk – When Kubica was catching Rosberg lap was comming to an end and Rosberg flew away with F-duct on straights. You have to remember when you follow another car your downforce is a bit lower, therefore you should be much quicker than slight quicker.